Race to Witch Mountain

Reviewed by Heather West

"...a
decent way to kill 90 minutes, full of the feel-good essentials that
fans of Disney have come to expect.
Just don’t
expect more."

Disney’s latest sci-fi flick is not a remake of the 1975 film Escape
to Witch Mountain, the 1995 made-for-television film Escape to
Witch Mountain,
nor even an adaption of the original Alexander Key novel. In fact, the
only similarity between Race to Witch Mountain and its predecessors is
that two alien kids with paranormal abilities have crashed-landed on Earth – and
are trying to find their way home.

The film opens with Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock), a cynical
taxi driver who wears his disdain with the supernatural like a medal of
honor. But when
siblings Seth and Sara (Alexander Ludwig and AnnaSophia Robb) offer him $3000
to take them to an abandoned shack in the desert, Jack starts to suspect
that they’re more than teenage runaways. Soon, with the help of scientist
Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino) Jack finds himself on a quest to deliver the kids
to Witch Mountain, along with the only thing that can save the Earth from certain
destruction.

Despite spectacular effects, thrilling chase scenes and the perfunctory love
plot, the question that haunted me throughout the film was “why?” “Why
do we need other movie about potential alien invasions” and “Why
does the bad guy always have to be some shady government organization” and “Why
do Seth and Sara seem to possess everything but the ability to defend themselves?” But
the greatest unexplained phenomenon was Jack Bruno’s character. The film
attempts to give him a sympathetic backstory: A former gangster, Jack is struggling
to lead an honest life but still pursued by the demons of his past. Nevertheless,
Jack’s reasons for helping Seth and Sara are largely unexplored. If he’s
really as cynical as he wants us to believe, then there should have been a visible
transformation. Instead, Jack goes from an unwilling accomplice to a self-sacrificing
guardian in less than a minute – and we never know why. He helps Seth and
Sara because he’s the “good guy” and as far as Disney is concerned,
that’s all we need to know.

Little of this will matter to younger audiences, which is probably for the best.
Overall, Race to Witch Mountain is a decent way to kill 90 minutes, full of the
feel-good essentials that fans of Disney have come to expect. Just don’t
expect more.

*for any concerned
parents, the reference to “Witch Mountain” in
the title is a just a name for that location and has no other bearing on
the story.

MPAA Rating: PG for sequences of action and violence, frightening
and dangerous situations, and some thematic elements.

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Heather West is a sophomore English and Communications major, who firmly believes
in the concept of the Renaissance man (or woman, in her case). In that vein,
her interests include everything from piano, Broadway, and gospel choir to snowboarding,
missionary work, and filmmaking. Her writing is inspired by her reading; her
favorite authors are Brian Jacques, Bill Myers, Timothy Zahn, G.K. Chesterton,
J.R.R. Tolkien, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Kenneth Grahame, Chaim Potok, Isaac Asimov,
and Lloyd Alexander. While she aspires to be a novelist and screenwriter, Heather
equally enjoys journalism, particularly in the areas of film and music. Her dream
job is creating clean, thought-provoking media that will point people back to
God. She has written for Infuze Magazine, more recently for SoulAudio.com, and
is thrilled to start writing for TitleTrakk!